A Healthy Pickle

A nurse named Marcia Gomez decided to invent a healthy pickle as a joke. But she came up with something even better--a great-tasting pickle. It’s like a crunchy bread and butter pickle with a hint of dill. It has half the salt of regular pickles and no preservatives, so it’s available only cold-packed, though it will keep in the refrigerator for months, assuming no nibblers (not likely). Add oil to the juices left when the pickles have all been nibbled and you have a salad dressing.

Aunt Polly’s Pickles, $5 a quart, at Joan’s on Third, Los Angeles, and Burbank and Beverly Hills farmers markets.

Cherry Zapper

This is a gratifyingly heavy, solid cherry pitter. As a bonus, it spits out seeds so explosively that you might even be able to get the kids to pit your cherries for you. (A bit of advice: Sell them on the idea of trying for accuracy, rather than distance.)

Chrome Cherry Pitter, $13.95, from Sur La Table, Pasadena; (800) 243-0852.

Picnic Cloths

We all remember oilcloth tablecloths--or, if nothing else, their pungent industrial smell when new. These come in bright, fade-resistant patterns and sizes from 48x48 inches to 48x84 inches. And they’re waterproof and stain-resistant, of course.

Oilcloth tablecloths, $25 to $38, from Siblings, Malibu.